Anyone who’s been to wine country knows the pleasure of visiting a winery, strolling the vineyards and then enjoying a glass or two in the winery restaurant.

Imagine if you could do the same thing with beer.

That dream may soon become a reality in Vancouver. Nearly a dozen local craft breweries and distilleries have applied for licenses to open tasting lounges, according to the Vancouver Sun’s Randy Shore. That means patrons may soon be able to sit down and savour a beer at the brewery, something nearly impossible to do now.

Current regulations limit microbreweries and distilleries to either giving away samples or selling bottles to go. Beer lovers who want to tour a facility then enjoy a pint or two on site are generally out of luck. This is because most of Vancouver’s microbreweries are on industrial land, making it difficult to obtain a liquor license.

New rules being considered by city council would pave the way for actual drinking lounges where brewers and distillers could sell their stuff on site. Lounges would have to be smaller than 80 square metres and take up no more than one-third of the facility.

And while that might all sound like splitting hairs, it promises to transform bar and pub culture in Vancouver. Just like counterparts in real beer capitals like Portland, Vancouverites may soon be able to spend an afternoon tippling in their favourite local breweries.

Better yet, many of the breweries applying for lounge licenses are clustered close together, raising the prospect of some epic brewpub crawls.

Inside Vancouver is a multi-author blog, written by Vancouverites about Vancouver. Our goal is to give an insider’s view of Vancouver, to provide information, stories and opinions from the locals’ perspective about this great city.